Commiseration
by Res CVX
Summary: Sasuke couldn't believe that a simple meeting was enough to change his goal. One-shot.


*A thank you to sydni for betaing this for me*

* * *

He had already settled into his bed when Sasuke felt that something was wrong. His eyes snapped open, and he sat up, only to find himself on the ground, in the middle of the Uchiha compound. Getting up quickly, he scanned the area, but there was no one around. Looking around the compound again, Sasuke felt his heart clench. Moisture started to build up in his eyes, before he clenched his hands and blinked them away. Now was no time to cry. Taking a deep breath, Sasuke started walking.

As of right now, he had already decided that he was going to leave the village with the Sound Four. He needed to become stronger. He needed to defeat Itachi and avenge his clan. Looking around, he realized with a jolt that he unconsciously walked towards his old house. He impulsively started walking through the door. He headed straight for the center of the house where the garden had been. Smelling flowers that should have long since died, Sasuke raced towards the door, and pulled it open. He froze. Not only were the flowers in full bloom, but someone else was standing in the center, with his back facing Sasuke. Sasuke reached for a kunai before remembering that he was in his pajamas.

"Who are you?" he demanded. The person jumped and turned around. Coal black met with startled green eyes. The person in the garden (Sasuke also noted that he too was wearing what looked like pajamas), had dark messy hair and round framed glasses.

"Huh? So there's someone else here," he said, a look of relief passing over his face.

"Who are you?" Sasuke repeated. The other person looked startled again.

"Potter Harry," he said slowly. Potter looked at him as though expecting something. When Sasuke made no move, Potter sighed in relief.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked. He was being rude, but there was a complete stranger standing in the middle of his garden. He had all rights to be rude. Potter blinked.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself as well, and I have no idea. I went to sleep, and I ended up in here." Sasuke was still feeling annoyed.

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke."

"Did you fall asleep and end up here as well, Sasuke?" Sasuke was miffed that he was addressing him so informally.

"Yes, I did," he replied. Potter sighed.

"So you don't know where we are as well."

"This is my family home," Sasuke said coldly. Potter looked surprised.

"O-Okay..." Potter looked awkwardly away. "Do you mind if I leave the garden?" Sasuke briefly contemplated the question before nodding. He stood aside as Potter walked by. He followed Potter as he walked outside of his home. Once outside, Potter's jaw dropped. "This place is huge." Potter turned around. "Your family lives here?"

"Yes, this was where my whole clan had lived," Sasuke corrected him. Potter froze at his use of past tense. Sasuke mentally hit himself. Great, now he was going to ask what happened.

"Oh, you too," he muttered. It was Sasuke's turn to freeze. Too? Did that mean Potter lost his family as well? Seeing his shocked face, Potter gave a small sad smile. "Yeah, my parents died when I was one."

"How did they die?" Sasuke blurted out before he could stop himself. Potter looked taken back, but still answered.

"They were killed by someone who was trying to kill me," he answered. Sasuke blinked at the response. Potter walked over, and took a seat at the steps. Sasuke hesitated for a moment before sitting down next to him.

"Why was he trying to kill you?" Sasuke asked again. He hastily added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Sasuke knew what it was like for people to walk up to him and ask about personal details. Potter slowly shook his head.

"It's alright. I came to terms with it. There was a war going on, and my parents were fighting in it, so they were eventually targeted. But for some reason, he wanted me dead specifically."

"Was it in the last shinobi war?" Potter looked at him blankly.

"The last what war?" Potter asked, confused.

"Shinobi war," Sasuke repeated. Potter stared at him before tossing his head back and laughing. Now, Sasuke was feeling irritated.

"What's so funny, Potter?" It took a few moments for him to stop laughing.

"Do you recognize the name Lord Voldemort?" Sasuke shook his head. "England?" Sasuke shook his head again. "Thought so."

"Thought what?"

"We're not from the same place," Potter said. "I thought it was a fluke that you didn't recognize my name. It's odd that you don't know Voldemort, and you not knowing the name of the country means that we're not from the same place. By the way," he added, "please call me Harry."

"You're famous where you are from?" Harry rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kinda...?"

"I thought it was weird that you had no reaction to my name as well..."

"You're famous as well?" Harry asked.

"Kinda," Sasuke replied with a smirk. Harry stuck a tongue out at him. "You don't know why you were targeted?" Sasuke could not understand why someone would want to go through the effort to kill a baby. Harry shook his head. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Sasuke was seeing Harry on a new light.

"My whole clan was killed in the compound." Harry turned to look at him, his eyes wide with shock.

"You don't have to tell me, you know," he said. Sasuke slowly shook his head.

"Can you listen?" Harry nodded. Sasuke went straight into the story of what happen that night. With slight sick amusement, he watched as the expressions on Harry's face go from shock to distress to horror.

"Why did your older brother kill so many people?" Harry asked, saddened. Sasuke felt a rush of anger.

"He. Is. Not. My. Older. Brother," Sasuke said through gritted teeth. He blinked when he found himself harshly gripping the collar of Harry's shirt. Harry only looked momentarily surprised. With a short apology, he let go, and sat back down.

"You don't have any idea why?" Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"No I don't," he spat out.

"Were the two of you close?" Furious, Sasuke turned to face Harry. He opened his mouth to speak, but meeting calm green eyes, he stopped. Blinking, he looked away. "Mind if I tell you a story?" Sasuke blinked and faced him. A moment later, he nodded, and Harry went straight into a story about someone named Sirius Black. Sasuke sat in silence as Harry talked about the friendship Black and his father had, and then the betrayal by the man that was supposed to be his godfather. Harry then mentioned that Black was caught after the deaths of thirteen people, and thrown into prison. Sasuke now knew why Harry was so sympathetic. He was in the same position. At hearing that Black had escaped from prison, Sasuke looked startled.

"Do you intend on hunting him down then?" It was Harry's turn to look startled.

"I-Is that what you are doing?" Sasuke nodded.

"I intend on hunting him down to avenge my clan." Instead of looking impressed, Harry looked almost disappointed. "You don't care about what he did?"

"I have no need to go after him."

"Why? He is the reason your parents are dead," Sasuke said in disbelief. Did Harry honestly not care? Harry looked towards the ground.

"To be honest, when I initially heard the story, going after him was my first thought. Like you, I was angry at him. I wanted him dead."

"What changed?"

"You said you and your brother were close, right?" Sasuke's confusion overrode his annoyance. What did that have anything to do with Harry changing his mind?

"Yes..."

"And what he did, did it seem out of character for him?" Sasuke's memory of that week replayed in his mind. He had been acting weird that whole time, but before that... The image of the smiling, younger Itachi crossed him mind. Sasuke forcibly shoved that image away.

"Before that happened, he had been acting weird..."

"And before that?" Harry prompted.

"Before that, I… I would not have thought he would do something like that..." Sasuke mentally shook himself. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"People initially believed that Sirius Black would never do something like that, and they were right." Sasuke gaped at him.

"What?"

"He was framed. He never betrayed my parents. He's innocent." Sasuke stared at him.

"Are you saying that Itachi is─" Harry put his left hand on his arm to stop him.

"I'm not saying that he is innocent. All I'm saying is that you should learn the whole story first before going in, guns blazing."

"Guns blazing?" Harry waved it away.

"Just get answers first," Harry said. Sasuke shrugged off Harry's hand. Noticing something, he looked back at his hand.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," Harry said hastily, shoving his left hand out of sight. Confused, Sasuke dropped the subject.

"But he told me why..."

"What did he say?" Harry asked curiously.

"He wanted to measure his abilities..." Now that Sasuke said that out loud, he realized how flimsy of an excuse it was. Harry blinked.

"I don't know him at all, but even to me, that sounds like a BS answer." Sasuke closed his eyes, and went through the memory of what happened that night. Coming to a decision, he turned to face him.

"When I get stronger, I will hunt him down, and demand a better answer," he told Harry. Harry grinned.

"That's better." Harry paused. "If it turns out like you thought it was, you aren't actually going to kill him, right?" Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows.

"Of course I am. I'm guessing the idea of killing people in your world is not normal?" Harry nodded.

"That's what Death Eaters do." At Sasuke's confused expression, Harry elaborated. "That's what the people under Voldemort call themselves."

"We don't kill people for amusement," Sasuke said. He waited until Harry looked back at him. "We kill to protect ourselves and our... comrades from those trying to hurt us." Harry looked stunned before relaxing.

"I understand." They sat in silence for a few minutes. Sasuke thought over the conversations they had. He couldn't believe that somehow, Harry had convinced him to demand answers from Itachi instead of outright killing him, his goal for the last five years. "Hey," Harry said, breaking Sasuke away from his thoughts. "Earlier, you said when you get stronger. How do you intend on getting stronger?" Sasuke was almost ashamed to admit how, but nonetheless, he told Harry about his plans to go Orochimaru.

"But I'm not going to do as he says," Sasuke added, seeing the irked look on Harry's face.

"You'd better not," Harry said darkly. "But still, what are the odds that you have a creepy snake guy after you as well?"

"You too?" Harry nodded.

"But he's bald," Harry added. Sasuke let out a small grin. He tried to imagine Orochimaru bald and snorted.

"Are you sure you're not a figment of my imagination or my conscious?" Harry looked amused.

"I should ask you the same thing," Harry said. "But, I am real where I'm from."

"Likewise," Sasuke said.

"You know, your English is pretty good. I thought you would have a stronger accent." Sasuke frowned.

"What are you talking about? You're speaking Japanese." They both stared at each other.

"Well, I guess this was necessary, since it would be awkward if we couldn't talk to each other." Sasuke nodded in agreement.

They both jumped when the scene around them turned black.

"Wha─"

"I think we're waking up," Harry said. Sasuke looked at him.

"So soon?"

"I guess..." Harry held out a hand to Sasuke. "It was nice talking to you." Sasuke stared at the hand before lifting his own and shaking it.

"Yeah..."

"Maybe in the future, we'll see each other again," Harry said smiling. Sasuke gave a small smile of his own and nodded. "Stay safe and good luck."

"You as well," Sasuke said. Before his eyes, Harry faded away, and Sasuke opened his eyes to see the sun peeking through his curtains. Getting up, he pushed aside his curtains, and looked down at the street below. Though he went to bed feeling angry, now, he just felt calm.

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This was sitting on my hard drive for about a month now, so I thought I should just put it up, and get it out of the way. This was just a random idea I had one day. I very much doubt I will continue this. I already have three stories in progress, but if anyone is interested, Guardian of the Fan (one of the stories I'm working on) does feature Harry and Sasuke, though Harry is in a guardian role.

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Thank you for reading, and if you can, please review. It helps motivate me ^_^


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